Saving a National Treasure: The Home of Dr. Carter G. Woodson

Felix L. Armfield

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has placed the home of Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) on its list of most endangered sites and Congress recently passed legislation to “authorize the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of designating the Carter G. Woodson Home in the District of Columbia as a National Historic Site.” The OAH Executive Board has also endorsed the effort to help save this national treasure.

In 1912, Woodson the son of former slaves and a native of Virginia, became the second African American to earn a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University. In 1915, he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History —now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH)—which he used as his scholarly vehicle to promote both the study and the legitimacy of African American history. In 1916, Woodson created The Journal of Negro History (which later became the Journal of African American History). Woodson also established Negro History Week, which became Black History Month in 1976.

Given the rapid rise of Jim Crow segregation in the larger white historical profession, the ASALH provided a regular venue for African Americans to gather and discuss their largely ignored past.

From 1915 until his death in 1950, Woodson operated both the ASALH and the journal from his Victorian-style row house in the historic Shaw neighborhood in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, the Woodson house has been vacant for several years and is urgently in need of substantial repairs. In an effort to save the home of the “father of black history”, the ASALH has launched a massive campaign fund drive. It was from this house, which was built in the 1880s, that Woodson penned some of his greatest works, such as The Mis-Education of the Negro (1933), and inspired and trained nearly two generations of African American scholars.

Over the next three years, ASALH wants to restore the house to its original splendor, relocate ASALH’s office to the Woodson site and acquire adjacent property for the purpose of creating an education and resource center that includes a Visitor Center and interpretive exhibits.

For further information about the effort to save the home of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, visit <http://www.asalh.com/woodsonhouse.htm>. Contributions may be sent to ASALH Woodson House Fund, c/o Morgan Stanley, 410 Severn Ave. Bld B., Suite #211, Annapolis, MD 21403.